Group: Fix The Broken Green Card System
Via NewsMax.com
WASHINGTON — With comprehensive immigration reform focused on the
millions of illegal aliens in the country, one energetic advocacy group
is hustling to educate lawmakers and the public about the million-plus
legal immigrants that have no need of amnesty but only a fair shake at
grabbing the American Dream.
Reform bills, amendments, and proposals may be languishing in the
brimming too-hard-to-do bin on Capitol Hill until after the 2006
elections, but Aman Kapoor, the founder and head of Immigration Voice
roams the halls of Congress, colleagues in trace, with a call for help
– fixing a green card system that is broken.
In the current global arena, countries such as India and China provide
strong competition in the manufacturing and outsourcing services. The
United States has to retain and attract the best and brightest talent
that it can find to keep its competitive edge in research and
development of innovative technologies, Kapoor told NewsMax in his
staccato Indian accent.
“Countries in Europe such as U.K. and Germany, in North America such as
Canada, and in the Southern hemisphere, such as Australia, have long
since realized this fact and have tailored their immigration policies
to attract the brightest students and made it easier for them to stay
in those countries,” Kapoor explained.
This, however, is unfortunately not the case in the United States, he lamented.
Immigration Protests May Not Spur Votes
LOS ANGELES — Immigration protests that drew hundreds of thousands of flag-waving demonstrators to the nation’s streets last spring promised a potent political legacy – a surge of new Hispanic voters.
“Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote,” they proclaimed.
But an Associated Press review of voter registration figures from Chicago, Denver, Houston, Atlanta and other major urban areas that had large rallies found no sign of a new voter boom that could sway elections. There was a rise in Los Angeles, where 500,000 protested in March, but it was more of a trickle than a torrent.
Protest organizers _ principally unions, Hispanic advocacy groups and the Catholic Church _ acknowledge that it has been hard to translate street activism into voting clout, though they insist they can reach their goal of 1 million new voters by 2008.
Fight for life replaces fight for green card
Via InsideBayArea.com
HAYWARD — Maria Rivas has faced her share of barriers in life, but none like this.
A single mother with two sons, Rivas was a victim of domestic
violence for many years at the hands of her husband, a permanent
resident who petitioned for her legal status in 1998. She says he often
used her immigration status as a tool of control, forcing her to remain
in the relationship and threatening to withdraw her papers. He has
since disappeared.
The Violence Against Women Act, passed by Congress in 1994,
allowed the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to expedite
Rivas’s application this year for her green card.
That hurdle was barely cleared when tragedy struck: Rivas
recently was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and her doctors toldher
she had only four months to live. Now she is trying to travel back to
her hometown — Culiacan, Mexico — to have closure with her family
before she dies. But she has no money to pay for the trip, because her
cancer has prevented her from working.
“Here I am fighting to live,” she said, anxiously contemplating her fate. “But I wish God would give me more time to live.”
Domestic violence occurs in nearly half of the nation’s homes. Each year, about 3 million to 4 million people are battered.
Rivas’ struggle is an example of how abuse traps immigrants
into a cycle of fear and submission because of the threat of
deportation.
Group Claims Discrimination, Targets Employers Recruiting H-1B Workers
Via ERE.net
As special interests pressure the U.S. Senate to lift the cap on H-1B
visas, a computer programmer advocacy group is filing complaints with
the U.S. Department of Justice against more than 300 IT services
employers whose ‘Help Wanted’ ads it believes discriminate against
American citizens, denying workers here equal access to U.S. jobs.
First PERM BALCA Decision – Re: Harmless Error on Application
Via ILW.com
This article discusses the first PERM BALCA decision, In the Matter of HealthAmerica, No. 2006-PER-00001 (BALCA, Jul. 18, 2006).
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American
Council on International Personnel (ACIP) jointly filed an amicus brief
on this case.
American dream sours for an exile
Via MiamiHerald.com
08/28/2006
For 12 years, Julio Rosell has lived, worked and paid taxes from his
roomy, idyllic Hollywood home — his lawn freshly mowed; his two cars
polished; his boat luxurious.
He fathered two American-born children: 10-year-old Jeannette and 9-year-old Julio Jr.
As a Cuban exile, he expected his American dream to continue.
But now Rosell finds himself in a situation unfamiliar to most Cuban exiles. His immigration status is in limbo.
The 41-year-old Havana native lost his bid for a green card because
he came to the United States as a stowaway. While he won’t likely be
deported, he cannot legally drive or work now.
”No one seems to care,” said his wife, Caroline Rosell, whose own
status depends on her husband’s. “My husband has no driver’s license,
mine’s about to expire and we are supposed to be supporting two kids
financially. I wonder how they really expect us to live — without
papers or a driver’s license.”
In the decade he adjusted to the American way of life, no one told Rosell he shouldn’t be here.
US proposes raising H1-B visas for Indians
Via The Times Of India
08/28/2006
NEW DELHI: The US on Friday said it
has a proposal to raise the H1-B visa quota for Indians by 25 per cent and is
taking steps to reduce the waiting period for visa applications, particularly
students, of this country.
It also denied that religion was any
criteria for issuance or denial of visa to anybody.
Efforts are
underway to raise the quota for H1-B (short duration stay) visas for Indians and
there is a proposal to hike it by 25 per cent, Peter G Kaestner, newly-appointed
Minister for Consular Affairs at the US Embassy said.
At present, the
limit of such visas meant for those employed temporarily is 80,000. Last year,
the cap was one lakh.
The issue is political in nature and US
Congress has to decide on it finally, the official said.
Kaestner,
who has served at the US Embassy earlier also, said he felt the number would
remain inadequate even after the hike.
The US H1B visa is
non-immigrant visa, which allows a US company to employ a foreign individual for
up to six years. The H1B visa-seekers could be those employed temporarily in a
speciality occupation or as a fashion model of distinguished merit and
ability.
Kaestner said the number of Indian students in the US was
growing, recording an increase of 30 per cent last year.
The US
Embassy is making efforts to reduce the waiting period for visa seekers,
particularly students and cut down on the backlog.
USCIS Creates E-mail Addresses for Questions on International Adoption Applications
USCIS News Release
USCIS MAKES IT EASIER TO ASK ABOUT ADOPTION APPLICATIONS
District Offices Create Email Boxes to Respond to Questions
WASHINGTON, D.C. -U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
invites parents with questions on pending international adoption
applications to make use of newly designated email addresses devoted
solely to international adoptions. Each USCIS District Office will have
a dedicated electronic mail address reserved solely for customer
service on international adoptions.
Given the complex and highly charged issues surrounding
international adoptions, prospective adoptive parents frequently have
difficult and urgent questions that are not easily addressed through
routine customer service channels. The new e-mail service will expedite
customer communications with USCIS on issues ranging from the
completion of application forms to questions involving case status. The
email addresses can be obtained by calling the USCIS National Customer
Service Center information line at 1-800-375-5283.
USCIS anticipates that this new service will offer prospective adoptive parents more timely answers to their questions.
-USCIS-
On March 1, 2003, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
became one of three former INS components to join the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security. USCIS is charged with fundamentally transforming
and improving the delivery of immigration and citizenship services,
while enhancing the integrity of our nation’s security.
Deported Man Was Actually U.S. Citizen
Via Forbes.com
Duarnis Perez became an American citizen when
he was 15, but he didn’t find out until after he had been deported and
then jailed for trying to get back into the country.
He was facing his second deportation hearing
when he learned he was already a U.S. citizen. Still, federal
prosecutors fought to keep him in custody.
Last week, a federal judge scolded prosecutors for the mistake.
“In effect, the government is arguing that an
innocent man who was wrongly convicted should not be released from the
custody of the United States,” U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn wrote.
He ruled that Perez never should have been deported.
The case has gotten the attention of
immigration observers, who call it a striking example of the gaps in an
overworked immigration system.
Perez became a citizen when his mother was
naturalized in 1988 but apparently wasn’t aware of it. His lawyer, J.
Jeffrey Weisenfeld of New York, declined to release details other than
to say that Perez, now in his early 30s, remains in the United States.
U.S. turning to DNA to prove family ties
Via The Seattle Times
08/24/2006
After waiting nearly 12 years to help his sister and her family
obtain green cards so they could move to the U.S., Nak Sieng faced one
final hurdle: proving he and his sister really are related.
An exercise that might have been simple for some was a monumental
challenge for the siblings who had lived through Cambodia’s
revolutionary war and, as a result, couldn’t obtain certain documents —
like birth certificates or school or medical records — to prove their
relationship.
Childhood photos the family was able to save from the war years were
too old, authorities told them. And photos from Sieng’s more recent
visits to Cambodia in 2000 were too new.
Then U.S. embassy officials in Thailand asked for a kind of evidence
that attorneys say is becoming increasingly common in immigration
cases: a DNA test.
The test proved unequivocally that the two are brother and sister.
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 
Dealing with a dearth of H-1B visa slots
Via The Star-Telegram
By MARK G. HEESEN and STUART ANDERSON
Special to the Star-Telegram
A focus on illegal immigration has overshadowed the need to reform
America’s system for skilled immigrants. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas,
will oversee a field hearing Thursday at the University of Texas at
Dallas that may start to correct this problem.
Because Congress has failed to allocate enough H-1B visas, U.S.
employers often must wait more than a year to hire a skilled foreign
national. In nine of the past 11 years, employers used up the entire
H-1B quota before the fiscal year ended; in the past three years,
employers exhausted the quota before the fiscal year started.
H-1B visas are essential — there is no other way to hire an
outstanding international student off a U.S. campus, or a
researcher/professional from abroad. The wait is five years or more in
the skilled green-card categories (for permanent residence) because
Congress also has failed to raise those quotas.
Companies employ many outstanding Americans, but to compete
globally, U.S. firms also must hire top talent without regard to place
of birth. Current visa limits have caused U.S. companies to hire and
place more personnel outside the U.S.
Ill-conceived immigration policies may discourage students from
coming to America to start a career. In fact, first-time science and
engineering graduate enrollment for international students declined for
the third year in a row in 2004, according to the National Science
Foundation.
In 2005, U.S. universities awarded 55 percent of master’s degrees
and 67 percent of Ph.D.s in electrical engineering to foreign
nationals. Simply put, when U.S. companies recruit off college
campuses, they find many of the potential new hires to be foreign
nationals.
Under the law, U.S. employers must pay foreign nationals hired on
H-1B visas as much as similar American professionals. Moreover,
companies typically pay $6,000 in various legal and government fees,
which have funded more than 40,000 scholarships for U.S. college
students in science and engineering, according to research by the
National Foundation for American Policy.
Cornyn’s bill (S 2691), which was included as part of the Senate’s
broader immigration bill passed in May, would largely solve the key
problems facing skilled immigrants and innovative American employers.
It would raise the annual cap on H-1B visas from 65,000 to 115,000,
provide for market-based increases in future years and add broader
exemptions for those with advanced degrees. In addition, recognizing
that it makes no sense to train and educate people and then ask them to
leave the country, the bill makes it easier for international students
to transition to work and provide an increase in green cards so that
highly skilled individuals could stay, innovate and prosper in America.
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